Flowers For Your Grave
Flowers for Your Grave is the first episode and series premiere of the first season of Castle. Summary Famous murder mystery writer Richard Castle is questioned by the NYPD when a murder scene is found as described in one of his novels. Castle must join forces with attractive detective Kate Beckett to find the killer, all the while trying to get ideas for his next series of novels. Recap The journey begins with a trickle of blood and a shower of petals. Sunflowers are placed on closed eyes, and someone is taking considerable pains, having presumably caused far more. A voice from the dressing of the body carries us to a Manhattan rooftop, and a book launch. A woman is giving a laudatory build-up to a man who's, apparently, rather preoccupied with signing chests (female only). Richard Castle's "Storm Fall" is on the market, and going like the proverbial hot cakes. Elsewhere the body prepared earlier has been found, and the police, detectives and photographers, are on the scene. The woman who brought us in, as yet unidentified, asks, "Who are you?" of the corpse. In quick succession we name the corpse (Allison Tisdale), meet the sidekicks and are introduced to the Medical Examiner/best friend. The female detective also brings us back to the matter of books, and with that we cut to the launch. Rick Castle's "promoter" earlier turns out to be his publisher and ex-wife, and in neither role is she happy that he has killed the goose that laid the golden eggs, his lead character, Derrick Storm. It wasn't "fun" is his excuse, and the goose, he claims, is him. And "you can't rush genius", he states, a premise blown out of the water by the fact that a mole in his camp has informed her that the only thing happening in his home is writer's block. At the bar, a "woman of a certain age" is trying to get her much younger companion to loosen up and have fun, a Sisyphean task by the look of things. The girl is studying for a test, and will not be diverted. The woman greets our hero with her conclusion about slipping sales, and the girl acknowledges "Dad"'s greeting. His mother (who has no desire to be identified as such) is, as he guessed, the leak Gina (his ex) exploited. Mother sees nothing wrong in what she's done, and soon scuttles of in search of "big game". Dad provides champagne, and receives a lesson in parenting from his 15-year-old, whose "old soul" can wait to drink alcohol. His desire for her to show she got at least some of his genes by "wildly inappropriate" behavior, causes her to point out his overabundance in this area. He feels stuck in a rut, which is why "Derrick" had to die. Castle longs for a surprise. Cue the detective who, despite her looks, is not looking for his unique style of tattoo, and identifies herself as Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD. She needs him to come downtown and answer some questions about a murder, which (as his daughter points out) is indisputably new. Detective Beckett has Mr. Castle in an interrogation room, and comes in with his bulky file, commenting on his rap sheet as she does. His "Boys will be boys" clearly cuts no ice with her, and the fact that each time the charges were dropped obviously rankles her. He informs her that his fan club extends beyond "bimbettes and celebutantes" (her candidates) to include the Mayor. His bad boy charm is wasted on her, however, and she gets down to business. Castle doesn't recognize either of the victims, the second being Marvin Fisk, a lawyer who was killed two weeks prior to Tisdale's murder, but he does note the speed and precision with which Beckett identified the books from which "inspiration" was drawn. He pegs her as a fan, a concept which does not sit well with Kate. "Only hardcore Castle groupies read that one" is his observation, a category Beckett clearly doesn't care to belong to. He redeems himself for a (serious) moment by showing an insight into the psychopathic mindset, but sinks himself without trace by following it up with a cheap line ("Do you know you have gorgeous eyes?"), and requesting copies of the pictures, to make his writer buddies jealous. Beckett wants to go through his mail, and get out of the room before she commits an act of violence. Back at his extremely spacious apartment, his mother is starting a rendition of "I'm just a girl who can't say no" as Castle makes it home. Despite the fact it's after midnight, mother is still entertaining, and his daughter, in the kitchen, is still studying. His daughter's attempts to extract info let us know that he has banned her from the fan sites, although apparently very liberal in the rest of his Internet outlook. He finds the murders senseless, then clarifies that this is odd as "murder usually makes a great deal of sense. Passion, greed, politics." It's the lack of taste in selecting from his oeuvre that's bothering him ("My truly lesser works"). As this role-reversed dynamic is played out, she's the one saying "It's bedtime." In the precinct, Beckett is providing her team with "Castle's greatest hits", his entire body of work, for them to get to know every murder he's ever written, in excruciating detail. The books prove to be Beckett's personal property, and the other two tease her about her 'fangirl' status. The psych profile suggests low IQ and a real or imagined relationship with Castle, so that is their starting point. Esposito can't figure out why, after a day of dead bodies, Beckett would choose to read about more. She feels that the rationale is fascinating - why people do these things. Their killer's next strike must be somewhere in Castle's volumes. The next day Castle's voluminous fan mail isn't the only mountain confronting the detectives. Their killer has inconsiderately left neither DNA nor prints, and Esposito's schoolyard suggestion that Rick is back because "he likes you" has Kate wincing as she is summoned into the Captain's office. The cherry on top is the discovery that Montgomery wants Beckett to take Castle up on his "kind" offer to help with the investigation. End of discussion. With no choice, but to put up with Castle, they go through his piles of letters together. Castle continues to observe Beckett, much to her annoyance. When Beckett asks Castle the real reason why he is there, Castle says that he's there "for the story." He then sends the question back to Beckett, asking her why she chose to be a cop if, according to his observations of her so far, she could have been anything from a lawyer to more socially acceptable options. He builds a theory about Beckett's past through her character profile, and comes to the conclusion that she must have lost someone she loved and whoever was responsible was never caught. The change in Beckett's features shows that he was right, but she merely tells him not to think he already knows her. Moving back to the investigation, Beckett finds a clue in a letter addressed to the first victim, Allison. She sends it over to the lab for fingerprints, and when Castle finds out that it is going to take a week, because of the system being backlogged, he calls the mayor and asks for a favor, so they get the prints in an hour. Beckett disapproves of Castle's ways, because they should be following police procedure. Esposito, though, is amused by the way the novelist seems to irk the detective and is impressed by his connections with the mayor. The precinct gets another call about a victim that was killed in a manner based on one of Castle's books again, this time from "Death of a Prom Queen", left to float around a pool while in a dress, although Rick notes that the dress color is wrong: the victim, Kendra Pitney, was wearing a yellow dress, whereas the dress is blue in the book. Despite being instructed by Beckett to "just stay here, and don't touch anything", Castle saunters over to make the acquaintance of Lanie Parish, the M.E. checking the body and earlier seen best friend to Beckett. Lanie is impressed by his identity, and more so by his eye for detail, which discerns the post-mortem nature of both stabbing and drowning, although her appreciation is not to Beckett's taste. The detective points out that, as a serial killer, their culprit doesn't need motive. The new body becomes secondary, however, when Beckett gets a call informing her of a match for the print from earlier - a Kyle Cabot in Brooklyn, which is now their destination, with all reasonable speed. Again, Beckett tells Castle on arrival, "Stay here", to which, this time, his response is "Scout's honor". As the police rush inside, however, Castle is not far behind. When the NYPD, after identification, break down Mr. Cabot's door, they find a basic shrine to Castle, intermingled with pictures of Allison. Castle, hot on their heels, finds it "creepy", and admits he "was never a Scout." As the apparent murder weapon is recovered, a banging sound from a cupboard says the apartment is not, after all, empty. Although the officers and detectives restrain and handcuff Cabot, the fact that the noise was him banging his head against the wall suggests he may well be non compos mentis. Back at the Precinct, a still-rocking Cabot has so far failed to speak, and his medical records show a history of "Pervasive developmental disorder", which Castle instantly hones in on as the cause of Cabot's obsession with himself. Allison was his case worker for his delusions, neatly tying them together. He fits the psych profile, and there's physical evidence tying him to both Allison and Castle. Case closed as far as Captain Montgomery is concerned. Beckett tries to explain to Castle that, in the real world, the guy found with the gun is, generally, the killer. Castle, however, still isn't convinced, and after some ribbing during his weekly writers' poker night about killing off Derrick Storm, pitches the case to the others as a story. When he finishes with Cabot's arrest, the other players insist there has to be more to the story, comparing the fingerprints on the letter and the lack thereof at the crime scene. Finally, one of the writers suggest that Castle add a character who knows that the suspect is innocent, and keeps digging until he finds the truth, and an inspired Castle says that he knows just the man. The next morning, Beckett finds Castle at her desk, rummaging through his things, but to her surprise, he apologizes, and gives her a signed advance copy of Storm Fall as a farewell gift. When he's gone, though, she realizes that when he was rifling through her files, he stole the ones related to the case, and tracks him down to the New York Public Library. However, when she is arresting him, he mentions that the rose petals used at the crime scene were Grandiflora, not hybrid teas like the ones in the book, and insists that the police have the wrong guy, even when Montgomery tells him not to interfere again. His argument strikes a chord with Beckett, and she notices that the murderer had missed several key details from Castle's novels, like the color of the third victim's dress, which rules out the obsessive Kyle as a suspect. The real killer had murdered Fisk and Pitney in order to make the police believe they were looking for a serial killer, not a motive, and had knowledge of Kyle's Castle-mania to frame him for it, which means that they had to have known Allison and her job fairly well. Soon after, Castle arrives for an appointment with Jonathan Tisdale, Allison's father, just as Beckett shows her badge to the desk secretary. While questioning Jonathan, they learn that Allison had no enemies and gave what little she had to charity, but her father is worth nearly a hundred million dollars, which she would have received a fourth of, and he's dying of terminal cancer. Now that they have a new suspect - Allison's brother, Harrison - they head over to his business to question him. Harrison seems to be upset, both by the loss of his sister and his father's inevitable demise, but Beckett realizes that he had prepared an alibi beforehand, and they head back to the office. Even though Harrison's credit card records appear to support his story, Castle points out that he could have just as easily purchased a false passport and returned to the country in order to commit the murders. Beckett orders Ryan to keep an eye on Harrison, while they go pick up a warrant from Judge Markaway. Realizing that he's been exposed, Harrison returns home to destroy the evidence, but Castle and the police are right behind him with the knowledge that Harrison's business is deep in debt, which the inheritence from Jonathan would have paid off easily. Not wanting to Castle to snoop around again, Beckett handcuffs him to her police car as the police head up to Harrison's apartment. While Castle finds, drops, and starts scrabbling for his handcuff key, Harrison finishes shredding the paper evidence, and starts climbing down the fire escape, just as Castle frees himself. Writer and cop give chase, only for Harrison to take Castle hostage. While he tries to search for a way out, Castle asks Harrison why he didn't simply ask Jonathan for the money, and then deduces that he had, but the self-made man refused to give him a cent, thinking he was weak for asking. So he decided to kill Allison, not just to get her share of the inheritance, but to punish their father before he died. Castle's deductions shake Harrison enough that he turns the gun from Castle to Beckett, giving him the opportunity to knock the murderer out. As the others take Harrison away, Beckett turns down an offer for dinner, and admits that they could have been something great before walking out of his life, seemingly forever. Castle watches her go, and later ends up writing long into the night. Some time later, Captain Montgomery calls Beckett into her office and explains that Castle is now planning on basing his new lead on her. While Beckett is flattered at first, Montgomery reveals that Castle has asked to follow her around for research, and argues that he helped solve the case when she tries to shoot him down. Unhappy but resigned, Beckett asks how long their new partnership will last, and Montgomery says that it's up to Castle. Castle, standing near the doorway, smiles, marking the beginning of a beautiful friendship... Promo Cast Main Cast *Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle *Stana Katic as Detective Kate Beckett *Jon Huertas as Detective Javier Esposito *Seamus Dever as Detective Kevin Ryan *Tamala Jones as Dr. Lanie Parish *Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Captain Roy Montgomery *Molly Quinn as Alexis Castle *Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers Guest Stars * Monet Mazur as Gina Cowell * James Patterson as Himself * Stephen J. Cannell as Himself * Dan Castellaneta as Judge Markway * Colby French as Detective * Keir Dullea as Jonathan Tisdale * Brian Avers as Harrison Tisdale * Kurt David Anderson as Kyle Cabot * Ian Jarvis as Bert * Caitlin McHugh as Receptionist * Kevin Jiggetts as Uniformed Cop * Kym Jackson as Allison Tisdale Quotes :Beckett: No signs of struggle. He knew her. :Lanie: Even bought her flowers. Who says romance is dead? :Beckett: I do. Every Saturday night. :Lanie: A little lipstick wouldn't hurt. :Martha: Really, dollface? Who does homework at a party? :Alexis: I have a test next week. :Martha: So do I. Liver function. And you don't see me studying! :Castle: You want to know why I killed Derrick? There were no more surprises. I knew exactly what was gonna to happen every moment of every scene. It's just like these parties. They've become so predictable. "I'm your biggest fan", "where do you get your ideas?" :Alexis: And the ever-popular "Will you sign my chest?". :Castle: That one I don't mind so much. :Beckett: Says here that you stole a police horse... :Castle: Borrowed. :Beckett: And you were nude at the time. :Castle: It was spring. :Castle: Looks like I have a fan. :Beckett: Yeah, a really deranged fan. :Castle: Oh, you don't look deranged to me. :Beckett: What? :Castle: Hell Hath No Fury? Angry Wiccans out for blood? Come on, only hardcore Castle groupies read that one. :Castle: I'm not asking for the bodies. Just the pictures. :Alexis: If I'm gonna have to keep bailing you out, you're going to have to raise my allowance... a lot. :Beckett: Castle, you ok? :Castle: Yeah, but this psycho here needs a breath mint. :Beckett: Richard Castle you are under arrest for felony, theft, and obstruction of justice. :Castle: You forgot making you look bad. :Beckett: You know for a minute there you actually made me believe that you were human. Cuff him. :Castle: Oo bondage. My safe word is apples. :Beckett: Oh there's no need to be gentle. :Beckett: What was that all about? :Castle: He's dying. :Beckett: Who's dying? Tisdale? :Castle: Want a hotdog? I want a hotdog.... What do you take on your dog... aaa Apples Apples Apples. :Beckett: What makes you think he's dying? :Captain Montgomery: Apparently you have a fan. :Beckett: A fan sir. :Captain Montgomery: Rick Castle. Seems he's found the main character for his next set of novels. A tough, but savvy female detective. :Beckett: I'm flattered. :Captain Montgomery: Don't be. He says he has to do research. :Beckett: Oh no. :Captain Montgomery: Oh Yes. :Beckett: No way. :Captain Montgomery: Beckett listen.... :Beckett: Sir he is like a 9 year old on a sugar rush. Totally incapable of taking anything seriously. :Martha: That makes about as much sense as Mousetrap.This is a reference to the Agatha Christie murder mystery play which is the longest running show of its type in the world. It has been running in the West End of London since 1952. By tradition, at the end of each performance, audiences are asked not to reveal the identity of the killer to anyone outside the theatre, to ensure that the end of the play isn't spoiled for future audiences. Featured Music *"When I Grow Up" - The Pussycat Dolls *"Stop and Stare" - OneRepublic Notes This is the for the series. Pilot episodes are used as a test in the process of developing a series. As such, elements of the show can often change from the pilot episode to what audiences would recognize as the series. This can result from smaller budgets allowed for a pilot with an uncertain future or suggestions based on test audience reactions. *'Credits:' Jon Huertas, Seamus Dever, and Tamala R. Jones are credited as "Guest Starring" in this episode, while Monet Mazur is credited as "Starring". *'Sets:' The set used for Castle's loft is simpler than the one used in the series, with the entry way and a main room most notably different. Additionally, the long hallway in which Castle slides Alexis in front of him on her feet is not a part of his apartment after this episode. Also, the Precinct's wall colors and layout are markedly different in the pilot episode from the rest of the series. * It is explained in the DVD's audio commentary of this episode that it was originally filmed in New York as a 37 minute "presentation". The rest was filmed in Los Angeles once the show was picked up as a series. Castle originally aired as a mid-season replacement for the failed reality show, True BeautyMid-Season Replacements Shows that Unexpectedly Became Hits. *This resulted in a shortened first season of only ten episodes. Trivia *When Beckett approaches Castle at the party and takes him to the police station, he has a clean shave. In the interrogation room, he suddenly has a more than one day growth of beard. When he returns home some hours later, he again has a clean shave. *Beckett conducts her interview with Castle in the interrogation room. We know from subsequent episodes that she normally uses the lounge to conduct interviews with "friendly" sources and only uses the interrogation room for suspects, criminals, or people she considers to be troublesome. *Castle returns home after the interrogation to find Martha singing with a man she met at the party. While the clock clearly reads 12:45 am (and Castle discusses this with Alexis), there appears to be sunlight streaming through the windows onto Martha. It might have been light from a light outside-- except that subsequent episodes show the same room to be very dark at night. *Esposito says that watching "a control freak" like Beckett, trying to deal with "something you can't control" like Castle, is more fun than Shark Week. *When the detectives flip open the book of the suspect with the scribbled drawings in it, the title is Storm Fall. This is the book that Castle gives Beckett an advanced copy of at the end of the episode. A goof? Or maybe the suspect attended the launch party at the start of the episode, or got the book from one of the guests. *Beckett's badge number is "0334" in this episode. *Beckett's hair continuously changes length throughout the episode, most notably when she and her team are in Kyle Cabot's apartment. * Originally Kevin Ryan was not part of the cast of characters; he was added with reshot scenes after the pilot came in short at 37 minutes. *The bullpen is different in this episode that is is in all subsequent episodes. References External links :Flowers For Your Grave page at the ABC.com - Castle site Category:Beckett Conspiracy 101 Category:Season premiere Category:Season 1 Category:Serial Category:Celebrities Category:Episodes